Hey all, I'm not sure if anyone made already such a tutorial, so correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, I made an easy to follow tutorial about how to create a cellar in 9 easy steps, thus adding another floor level. You can read the tutorial here: http://kitana.freesuperhost.com/cellar/cellar1.html

Happy building

Wouldn't a cellar be like a basement?

Yes, it would. We know how to make basements already, it's easy. But this may be helpful to the Simmers who dn't know.

Wow, thanks for that, my brother tried it with all the steps and it came out nicely :D

Yuurei, this is a well done tutorial. For absolute beginners this would be the easiest basement (cellar) tutorial to understand.
There ARE more complete tutorials, but none as clear as this.

This is the easiest cellar tutorial that I have ever seen. I was able to make my first cellar!

Cheers, thanks! =) Off to give it a try now!

im blond, and I'm a noob lol, and I even understood that.

Great job!

i'm german and i understand this
very nice!

Thanks, its realy the easiest tutorial i've seen for a cellar good job....
btw i've counted the clicks...a wall is 16 clicks up or down

Hmm, good tut!! and is easy to understand. I'll try this when I return home! Finally I'll have my own dungeon basement... :devil:

Hmmm 16 didn't work for me, 12 did and I figured out how to make windows and doors on the basement (cellar) level too. Thanks so much for this great tut.

I know another way to be sure about the height of the floor: choose a paint or tile wall covering, anything with a clear separation from stairs to stairs, put it once on the foundation. The tile repeat itself infinitely or so into the ground. Dig until you can see the hole design, be careful not to show the next repetition, it works perfectly!
Besides, this tutorial will have helped me greatly back then, it is perfect for beginners.

I just read, the tuturial, but I cant get it to work... No matter how deep i dig, it always show the message "covered by floortile"... I even digged all the way to the bottom, with no luck... Is there any of you, who can measure how deep, you actually have digged?? (press shift+alt to show)

i get the same prob. anyone got help?

Jay1982 & CECER1,

Whoopie had already stated the depth is 16-click from the above messages. It is the minimum height for sims accessment, and in another words, it's good to be >16 when every click addition for the depth is a multiple of 4 till you reach the lot size limit, but never < 16 unless you can mod TS2 so. So, It's a must unless the cellars you're making are solely for decorations non-functional to sims.

jacciinatl saying 12-clicks probably means that jacciinatl based the house on foundation while counting the depth from the ground rather than from the foundation.

also, due to the similarities of cellars and basements, you can find more clues from basement tutorials. The tutorial listing and Mikeinside are 2 sources.

in reference to what you said about not being able to dig the right amount, you should make just one square of brick foundation, then get some paint that has a strip of white, or any color on the bottom of it(kickmolding?). Just keep digging until you reach the strip at the bottom of the painted 'wall' & that will be the right amount of digging done.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I needed this!

First of all, thanks for your tutorial,Yuurei!
I finally built a cellar but when I try to put doors in, it always says
"location out of bounds"!
But I need doors in the cellar-walls because I want to build kind of a split-level house with one entrance through the cellar (hope you understand what I mean by that) I once saw a house like that, so I'm sure it can be done - I just don't know how yet.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

helloanni ,

There are 2 rows of grids reserved unbuildable for each side edge.

I'm unsure what your situation really is. Can you post at least a pic to depict where your problem is? This can help willing helpers to have a better idea on your problem.

Your in-game screenshot can be found in a folder called "storytelling", or search "Storytelling" or "screenshot", then you'll get to the folder normally. By checking the shots, you'll known which ones you look for.

thanks niol,
but I didn't try to build on those two rows of grids (even if the error message would suggest so)
Perhaps this pic will help ...

i just wanted to know can u put ne windows in ur cellar?

can u put windows in ur cellar

Hi helloanni & all,

Ensure the foundation wall is at least 16-click high (in terms of terrain tools) or a floor high (coz your sims need that height to get access).

You can try to place doors and windows on the foundation walls with the moveobject cheat.
1. press "C-Ctrl-Shift" to get the cheat box.
2. type in "moveobjects on" and "enter".
3. place your doors and windows to the foundation walls. (don't worry if they don't show up or are immersed into the walls. They will show up once you save it or reload the lot)
4. now get the cheat box out to disable the cheat after placing your doors and windows.
5. type in "moveobjects off" and "enter".
You're done...

These doors and windows on foundation walls are functional.


If you want default walls for windows and doors, it's easier to build those wall segments before you build the foundation. However, you can

Update:
I guess I was thinking in a dead end :P. Niol was being brain-dead for something at the time, and now he was shot-dead...by himself! :skull:

1. Just delete the foundation blocks at the location of where you're going to place the doors and windows, and then build the default walls there.
2. if the foundation is not exactly 16-click-high, press "C-Ctrl-Shift" to get the cheat box and type in "boolprop constrainfloorelevation false".
3. try to get a plain grid/square above the new default wall(s) by building diagonal walls around the new default walls.
4. either level from the default walls to the other parts of foundations (remember to use undo when getting in an undesired point.) or vice versa, yet the former is more susgested to avoid the glitch on extended walls with doors or windows.
5. press "C-Ctrl-Shift" to get the cheat box and type in "boolprop constrainfloorelevation true".
6. delete the extra wall segments.

That should be the simplest way. So, from now on, the lower approach is just like an additional challenging way. :moose:


1. delete the foundation side where the windows and doors will be on. (to build he default walls!)
2. build only the wall segments for your doors and windows (be aware, NOT a side of wall).
3. add an additional default wall a grid from the wall segments, and the length should be at least the same as the foundation. (to help fixate the upper grids)
4. tiling the upper level with 2 grids extended out for the side you place the doors and windows. (to fixate the upper grids)
5. build back the deleted part of the foundation with "Ctrl-delete" the foundation and then "left-mouse-click". (to undo the deletion of a foundation)
6. Now, you can delete the extended tiling on the upper level. (its function is done.)
7. Also delete the additional default wall a grid from the wall segments. (its function is done.)
You're done with the wall conversion.

It you don't understand the special terms used here, you can learn them from the linked tutorial.

If wanna learn more about foundation wall, you can read this tutorial: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=87464

Thank you so much, niol!
I had tried it with the moveobjects cheat but as it looked so weird with the doors vanishing into the wall I just thought something was wrong. But if they really show up right and will even be usable when I reload the game - there's nothing more to worry about!
I really didn't get the second part but I guess that won't be important if everything works as you explain it? Anyway, I'll try your tutorial ...